It takes an employee 30 minutes to produce the first unit of an item. If an 80% unit learning curve is in effect, what is the projected time required to produce the eighth unit?
To calculate the projected time required to produce the eighth unit under an 80% learning curve, we use the learning curve formula. The learning curve indicates that each time production doubles, the time required per unit decreases to 80% of the previous time.
The formula for the learning curve is: ????????=????1×????log????(???????????????????????????????? ????????????????????)Tn=T1×nlogb(learningcurve) Where:
????????Tn is the time for the nth unit.
????1T1 is the time for the first unit (30 minutes).
????n is the unit number (8).
????b is the base of the logarithm (2 for doubling).
Learning curve = 0.80.
Using the formula: ????8=30×8log2(0.80)T8=30×8log2(0.80) ????8=30×8−0.3219T8=30×8−0.3219 ????8=30×0.512T8=30×0.512 ????8=15.36 minutesT8=15.36 minutes
References:
Chase, R. B., Jacobs, F. R., & Aquilano, N. J. (2006). Operations Management for Competitive Advantage. McGraw-Hill.
Learning curve theory and application articles from professional operations management resources.
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